Jonathan Case is the creator of the graphic novel Dear Creature, about an atomic sea mutant modeled after B-horror movies from the 60s, but with the soul of a poet. In addition, he produces other works including comics, paintings and animations. Case is a member of the Periscope Studio in Portland, Oregon, where he works with a creative team of 20 comics artists and writers.

Tom Hart is a professional cartoonist, digital artist, animator with over 10 years teaching experience at School of Visual Arts, in New York City and is now the director of The Sequential Artists Workshop, a school of comics and graphic novels in Gainesville. He will be hosting a two hour workshop on the subject of the Self as Monster in Josh Bayer's ROM, which will include a brief lecture followed by some hands-on time creating our own Monsters in the Margin comics, emulating his current instructional methods found at Sequential Artists Workshop in Gainesville.

Jim Rugg is a cartoonist and illustrator based in Pittsburgh, known for his tongue-in-cheek evocation of 1970s-era pop culture. His various projects, graphic novels and comics anthologies include Street Angel, Afrodisiac, The P.L.A.I.N. Janes and Janes in Love, One Model Nation, and The Guild. Rugg has also produced short comics for VH1, New York magazine, True Porn, Meathaus, Cinema Sewer, Strange Tales, the SPX Annual, Project: Superior, Dark Horse Presents, and the Next Issue Project. His presentation will be a fascinating virtual discussion on working within the industry and navigating the editorial process at publishers like Marvel, DC, and Darkhorse; and what the independent creative space affords in the actualization of a creative vision informed by anxiety and social critique.

Ben Towle is a multiple-Eisner nominee, freelance artist, and a well published cartoonist. His works include Ameila Earhart: This Brown Ocean from Disney and the historical fiction book from SLG, Midnight Sun. He is also an educator at the Savannah School of Art and Design and The Sawtooth School for Visual Art. Towle will be speaking on the production decisions that go into the publication process, and particularly conveying an approachable relation to disaster.

Joseph Witek is a professor at Stetson University. He received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and specializes in comics and Popular culture; narrative fiction; literary theory; humanities. He is the author of Comic Books as History and editor of Art Spiegelman: Conversations (both UP of Mississippi); His articles have appeared in International Journal of Comic Art, The Comics Journal, Journal of Popular Culture, and other journals and collections. He is also the 1997 recipient of the Hand Award for Scholarly Activity.

In addition to our exterbal guest speakers, several of the University of Florida's own professors will be speaking at the "Monsters in the Margins" conference. These faculty spotlights will include Richard Burt (Medieval and Early Modern Film and Media, Unspeakable Shaxxxspeares), John Cech (Imagination and Innovation: The Story of Weston Woods, Angels and Wild Things: The Archetypal Poetics of Maurice Sendak), John Leavey (translation, several works by Derrida, including Glas and Glossary) and Donald Ault (Visionary Physics: Blake's Response to Newton, Narrative Unbound: Re-Visioning William Blake's The Four Zoas; founding editor of ImageTexT).